To the victor go the spoils
by Inked Lotus
Summary: After a heated fight at an industrial complex, Ruby Rose finds an unhealthy way to remind her enemy that she won, something that the criminal mastermind of Vale finds amusing, tuning it into a game that could end up bad for the young girl. (T for swearing and some explanations on physical harm)(Rosewick)
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, here's the story, as always**

 _'Thinking'_

 _"_ Talking _"_

 **Now, on with the Show  
**

* * *

She was panting, her arms were quivering and her legs were shaking, but her opponent was in a similar condition. The man was currently with his weight shifted towards his cane, his breath coming in and out notoriously. On the outside, the sound of the still raging battle between the rest of her team and the man's subordinates echoed through the wind. She was certain that she had just loaded the last round of bullets she was carrying and, by the actions of the man (who wasn't shooting at her anymore), he was out of bullets too. She knew that her semblance could give her the advantage in a fair battle, but this was far from being fair. He was far more experienced on fighting against a human being than her, and she knew that she wasn't going anywhere with just standing there. Every second that passed brought closer the possibility of his allies rescuing him. After all, if the great Roman Torchwick was known, it was for his ability to always find a way out of capture.

On his side, Roman knew that he only needed to stall a little more until Neo and The White Fang came to collect him, but he felt compelled to mock the girl. He had to admit that he enjoyed every time she was annoyed or irritated by his comments, especially when she was feeling like a full-grown huntress. Still, if he took any of the hits from that oversized gardening tool the wrong way ,he could end up flying towards the end of the warehouse. To be honest, that thing could really pack a punch, and without his aura he would probably end up with more than a few broken bones. Normally, he would flee right when his aura was about to be depleted, but this time the 'little vermin' had anticipated that and blocked the escape route with debris from a dust-shot.

He couldn't help but to grin, not every day someone got him in a tough spot after all. The only part of the situation that did not amused him was the fact that it was "little red" the one who had him cornered. ' _no no no… maybe worried, she would never be able to corner me. Soo… she probably will try propelling herself with the gun to hit me, besides, she's not that stupid, she knows that I can block the bullets, and she doesn't want to kill me, that's not like her. Besides, she has to save bullets if she wants to block my escape, and her semblance won't be enough to catch me if Neo_ _'s the one coming for me_ '. While trying to clear his thoughts and catch his breath, Roman noticed that the girl was almost recovered; she could stand right and she wasn't breathing heavily now ' _well, gotta give the kid some credit, she can maintain a fight for an extended period of time_ ' but his mind urged him that, if she could recover that fast, his chances of winning were growing slim by the minute that the fight continued.

"I'll have to admit, Red, for the first time it seems that you plan capturing me", Mocked the ginger, trying to infuriate the girl. "I could go ahead and say that this was clearly made by Ice Queen, she seems far more logical…" his grin was growing wider; each word seemed to get on her nerves as easy as ever. The silver eyed girl was glaring daggers at him, her mind rambling at his words ' _I can plan by myself. Dork, ugly, meanie… idiot, I'll show him, I'll punch his stupid- no, no… this is what he wants, I have to remain calm, if I win, I'll prove that he was wrong, plus, he will be in jail. Remember Ruby, he wasn't expecting this, you have the upper hand_ ' As the thoughts cleared on her head, her expression went from a glare to a neutral face and then to a confident smile, irritating Roman. After all, if she was calm, she would commit less mistakes and that meant less opportunities for him to escape.

Their eyes were fixed on each other. Roman tightened his grip on the cane, waiting for the moment she sprinted towards him; he would need all of his strength to repel the hit. Meanwhile, Ruby kept her gaze on him in case he had a dust crystal at hand, which could really turn the table to his favor.

After few seconds of staring at each other, Ruby Rose pointed her rifle towards him and opened fire, only to have the bullet deflected by the ginger criminal. She couldn't help but to grin at the reaction of the man. She kept firing towards him, with the same conclusion as the first shot, deflected by the cane. He was so focused on the shots that he didn't notice that the last shot he heard was on the opposite direction, launching the small girl and her trusty weapon towards him.

He could barely lift Melodic Cudgel to block the hit, but the momentum from the insane speed the girl could reach was too much. The impact sent him towards the side of the warehouse, colliding with the wall, while Melodic cudgel ended up at the wall at the end of the room, straight ahead from the door and in a perfect diagonal from him. He tried to stand quickly but a sharp pain on his side kept him down for a while ' _And now I have broken ribs… just great… well looks like I can't play around anymore…I mean…If she puts this much effort on catching me, I might as well try to get away with everything I have too_ '.

"Last warning, Red. Run while you still can" he threatened, standing slowly while dusting off his white jacket. She was confident that she could win but, for once, she wanted to try and mock the green-eyed criminal.

"You know, Torchwick. If I remember correctly it's always you the one who's running" ' _with a few broken ribs he can't escape easily, but I still have to win. If he's unconscious I can take him to the authorities, so… it's just one more hit_ ' the young huntress was to focused on her thought to notice that the criminal hadn't reacted at all to her provocations. When she lifted her head, there he was, still standing in the same place, with a hand on his right side and the other one down. As she got into position, she could feel that something was not right. Roman tried to always be on his guard, or at least kept that grin on his face, knowing that he was on top of things. Ignoring the feeling, the silver-eyed huntress used the last shot on her weapon to propel herself towards the criminal, turning her weapon to hit him with the blunt side. If she was lucky, the hit would throw him towards the corner and knock him unconscious. She just needed to turn her weapon the right way to avoid hitting him in a fatal way.

Upon reaching him, the scythe only collided with air. The disbelief in the girl was reflected with the ungracious movement she made in order to stop herself and the scythe in a way that didn't harm her. But the intend of stopping the weapon was disturbed by a pull on her leg, destroying the balance she was trying to build. As a result, she ended up on her back, her right arm was dislocated. Her scythe was now on the roof of the warehouse and, standing up by her side was her enemy, with no harm more than the one he already had ' _he ducked…he avoided the hit by kneeling… but… that means that he saw my attack…_ '.

"Enough games, Red." His voice was clear, sounding tired, like the fight was just a game for him. "When will you understand that you are just too young to try being a hero? If you keep like this you'll find yourself at the end of the hero's road without even going through that way" the words practically resounded through the structure, her entire body was in pain aside from the fact that her right arm was now useless, and there was no way that Roman was going to let her put it back in its place. For the time being, she needed to think in way to get out of there Roman was clearly acting different and she didn't know how to deal with it.

' _For now, I need to build distance…_ ' with that in mind, the small girl used her semblance towards the cane of the criminal, colliding with the wall, she only noticed that he had been holding her when she turned towards him, seeing the man with her red cape in his hand. The man let out a sigh and started walking towards her.

The girl's thoughts were practically scrambled, she needed to get out but she also needed to retrieve her weapon, and in a tiny corner of her mind lingered the thought of capturing the criminal mastermind. Not because he was bad, not because he harmed people, but to prove HIM that she was strong enough to take him down.

Suddenly, a thought crossed her mind. A way to get out, beat him and retrieve Crescent Rose from the ceiling. With that on mind, she got on her feet, using her left arm to support her; Roman was getting closer by the second. Even thought he was walking towards her, probably because of his wounds, every moment could define the outcome of this battle. She kicked Melodic Cudgel back towards its master. At the same time the weapon flew towards the man, who was getting ready to catch it, she sprinted towards him at the top of her speed, and at the same time Roman caught the cane, her entire body collided with his, throwing both of them towards the wall of the warehouse.

The impact was hard, Roman took the hard of it, with Melodic Cudgel squeezed between the two, pressing Roman's wound. The huntress's bad arm was the one squeezed by the impact, and therefore between the cane and her body. She felt a sharp pain coming from her arm at the moment they hit the wall, but as they fell and hit the ground, the pain became just general and couldn't fell anything specific.

As he drifted unconscious, Roman's mind was plagued by the thought of the small girl being able to beat him. He could feel pain in his chest, product of the hit. His trusty cane was now lying on his side, right between him and the Huntress. His mind was going numb, but he was able to see the girl standing up, right arm hanging. She looked somewhat different, she had a faint trail of blood falling from her forehead to the left side of face; the absence of her cape and the blood on her face, plus the confident but almost cold look in her eyes made her look dangerously attractive, ' _now that's a good look for a rose…after all...they all have thorns…_ '

She turned to look at the man, who was now unconscious, his white jacket was stained with blood which she was sure wasn't there before. As she kneeled to check on him, sounds at the door of the warehouse told her it was time to go. Besides, even if she wanted to fight them, she was in no condition of fighting the members of the White Fang or worse, Neo.

She used Melodic Cudgel to pull her scythe towards her. She was about to go when the words the criminal resounded though her mind ' _I'll show you, and I'll make sure that you never forget that I won…_ ' she thought, while she kneeled at his side and after leaving Melodic Cudgel on his hand, she sneaked outside the warehouse.

Making her way towards her team, she couldn't help but notice the lack of people around. No huntsman or huntresses, no unconscious members of the White Fang, no workers of the Schnee Dust Company, absolutely nothing. When she arrived at the point where her team was supposed to be, she was glad that they were there. Yang was the first one to go and hug her, then Blake and finally Weiss, all of them questioning for what happened, why did she run, or where was Torchwick; but she just shrugged all of the questions with one liners and made her way towards the ship that would take them towards Beacon. Her mind drifted towards the fight on the warehouse, the change in Roman's demeanor, her last actions during the fight and most importantly, what she had done before escaping.

 **And Here I am, once again. First, sorry for not being active for a time, I've been with stuff from the college..., second, thanks for reading the whole thing. Anyways, the setting of this story is kinda blurry, but is like, mid season 2, but before Roman's ordered to move to Mount Glenn.**

 **I don't think I have to remind you this but this will be Rosewick (mildly, I'm not much into cheesy things, but it will have banter and a little competition).**

 **So, this will be chaptered, not sure about how many, but this will be chaptered (unlike Midnight Readins which I specified was a One-shot).**

 **So... Until next update, which I hope to have by next week.**

 **Be safe, Inked Lotus Out.**


	2. Chapter 2

**As always:**

 **"Talk"**

 **'** ** _thoughts_** **'**

 **and the new one**

 **"Neo's writing"**

 **now, on with the show:**

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He felt pain, sharp and great pain on all of the body. Some parts more and some parts less, but still, pain. His mind was still fuzzy, not really conscious of where he was or what had happened; for all he knew, he could be in jail. The damn kid had really won this time (not that he was willing to admit that in front of anyone), at that speed even the lightest person would have been able to knock him out. Plus, the wounds of failing that block had him practically at the verge of a collapse.

As he opened his eyes, the sunlight made his vision blurry. Or maybe it was just the pain on his side, he didn't care about it. All he knew was that the image was a blurry spot of colors that cleared out as the time passed and, for all he knew he could be in jail.

The blurry image turned out to be his own bedroom. When he realized it, the green-eyed man let out a breath of relief. Not being in jail was a huge improvement to his expectations. ' _Okay since I'm here, someone came to get me… Red would have turned me to the police if she had had enough time to do it_ '.

The ginger tried to get out of bed, but as soon as he tried to sit on it a sharp pain went from his right side to every part of his body making him cringe. ' _I'll be lucky if I can move properly by the end of the week…damn red…and to make it worse I lost an entire shipment of dust…She's really not going to be happy about this…_ ' He was so focused on his thoughts that he didn't notice when the door opened. He didn't notice the person with the food tray that approached him or the fact that someone else had stepped inside the room.

"Roman, try to sit at least. I'm not going to spoon-feed you, and I'm pretty sure Neo would make you choke if you ask her" said the owner of the club, making Roman turn his head (a little too fast), and notice that he and the small woman were on the room.

' _So, it was Neo who found me… and she even called Junior… man, that means Red must have left me half dead for Neo to call him…_ ' he tough while in pain as he straightened his position to a half-sitting one. He noticed Neo climbing on the other side of the bed as Junior left the tray over him and pulled a chair to sit at his side ' _This makes me look like I'm on death bed…_ ' he thought with a smirk on the face.

He hated Junior's soup, but it was very useful. After years of studying mixes for the bar and cooking to maintain the three of them, Junior had found a way to strengthen the regenerative properties of Aura. The only downfall of such a powerful recipe was the fact that it tasted awful, to the point that, every full-spoon you took of the damn thing was met with an intent to puke. Junior's full glare on him was the one thing that avoided him to throw the damn plate through the window, that and Neo's sight (up-close), to make sure he swallowed.

As he swallowed the last bit of soup, the man grabbed the tray and took it towards the kitchen while his other associate remained in the room. Roman was starting to feel a little nervous. They wouldn't let him get up and they wouldn't leave him alone, that surely was suspicious but sadly, he didn't remember much of his fight against the huntress, with the last impact being an exception. ' _Time to figure out what the hell is happening_ ' thought the green-eyed man as Junior walked once again through his bedroom door, this time with no tray in hand.

"Okay Roman. What the hell happened out there?" asked the man, as he brought the chair he was previously using towards him and sat so he could look at the ginger man "I was having a good night at the club when Neo texts me that you have three broken ribs, a pierced lung and a fractured arm. Took me two hours to patch you the right way and wait for your aura to start healing that damn lung." He clearly sounded irritated. ' _Well, I will be pissed too if an idiot made me lose money…'._ He turned his head towards the side to avoid his look but Neo was clearly more pissed off than Junior.

"I remember we were trying to steal some dust when Red and her friends came to the place, I don't know what the hell happened at the other side because, the moment I was trying to escape Red shoot towards my exit and forced me to run inside a warehouse." The green-eyed man was pissed at the fact that he had to explain what happened like he was some kid who got caught doing some prank. To make matters worse, Neo's glare was getting more pressuring at every word that left his mouth. "Then I don't remember much, except for the end, that was with Red coming at full speed to impact me" ' _I think I'll leave out the part were little Red looks alluring…_ '

"Wait, wait, wait. Are you telling me that Blondie's little sister broke you three ribs and pierced your lung?" asked the man with a complete look of disbelief. Roman just sighed at his reaction ' _seriously Junior? Have you seen the weapon she carries around? Are you retarded or something of the sort?... Well you might be something of the sort… I mean… you have a thing for blondie…_ ' he was so focused on his mental sass that he didn't notice Neo furiously tapping in her scroll while giving him a murderous look. "Why run in other direction instead of towards me? Where you trying to be alone with her?" read the screen right in front of him, as the small woman had pushed her scroll right in front of his face while glaring at him.

"I don't know what you mean with the last question, Neo. And I hope that it's not what I think you are trying to imply" warned the man with a low voice. "As for why I went towards the warehouse, it was because of the rest of the pests being there. I tried getting Red away so we could take some part of the cargo once she was unconscious, which ended up as a failure, I think." The fiery glare of the woman turned to an apologetic expression and she decided to face away from him at his words.

"Neo. Are you telling me that you couldn't take anything? Not even a little speck of dust from a warehouse that had enough dust to power an entire Atlesian battalion?" asked the man as he stood up (ignoring all of Junior's advices and attempts to put him back in the bed). The woman avoided his gaze at the question which made him groan.

"For all that I know, that damn woman will try to murder me now…" mumbled Roman as he took out a cigar while Junior facepalmed at his action. "So, now I have to calm down that woman and hope that she will understand what happened" continued the man as he took out his clothes, his side was still in pain, but it wasn't the moment to think on that. The man only stopped when he noticed a certain piece of clothing, and he remembered that everyone that ever brought him home while unconscious had to leave that piece of clothing on his nightstand.

When they saw Roman going through his clothes and look periodically towards the night stand, the small woman typed something on her scroll as the older man walked outside the room towards the main door mumbling something about idiots smoking and black lungs. After writing the message, Neo walked towards Roman and handed him her scroll "If you are looking for your handkerchief, you didn't have it when I found you, the White Fang couldn't find it at the warehouse either."

"Great… see if I left it somewhere around here. I'll go talk to that woman and convince her that we are still useful" ordered the ginger as he picked up his cane and hat and walked out of his house and towards the warehouse where he was supposed to bring the dust he collected.

After the door closed behind Roman, Neo let out a sigh. ' _And how am I supposed to find in here something that you lost at the warehouse…_ 'thought the woman as she threw herself on the bed ' _Besides… I'm pretty sure that the damn kid took the stupid scarf anyways…_ ' she rambled mentally.

At the time Roman arrived at the warehouse, his 'employers' were already there, and they looked pissed. The damn black-haired brat made him signs that he was about to get hanged, while the green haired bitch used her semblance to show him an illusion of his dead body burning. The man shrugged at the image before he walked inside the small room where he planned on what to do.

Inside the room was his actual employer, the woman was sitting at the table with her face towards the board with numbers (which represented the amounts of dust they needed and the amount they had, aside from the numbers of personnel and equipment), Roman knew that she was aware of his presence but still preferred to clear his throat to announce his arrival.

"Roman… dear Roman… do you know why I hired you to help us in this enterprise?" asked the woman as she ignited a flame in her right hand. "I came to you because you were the best prospect for this kind of job" continued the woman as she turned around to face him "So Roman… How is that the best criminal in all of Vale couldn't bring not a single speck of dust from a warehouse that was overflowing with it?"

"Look darling, this is all a delicate procedure… I normally can take out cops and huntsmen that come after me. But if I recall, YOU told me that I shouldn't kill anyone because that would throw the city on alert and that would ruin your plans. Besides, I can get that dust back from the stupid warehouse, it's child's play" replied the man as he turned away from the table to smoke.

She walked behind him and passed a hand over his shoulders towards his chest, while the other one was right in front of his face "You better get that dust Roman, or you pretty little family" said the woman as she snapped her fingers and created a flame, right in front of his face "will burn."

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 **Hello there**

 **Inked Lotus here, with a new chapter (for the first time o.O).**

 **So, this one is part one of the aftermath I'll try to write part two but I make no promises about when I'll publish it. College is getting challenging.**

 **Special Thanks to Dragoness of the Moon for the review and guest: Rosewick4ever. Also, thanks to everyone who follows now the story and those who marked it as a favorite.**

 **well, see you next time.**


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